Deaver Perjury Probe To Check House Testimony

August 09, 1986|By United Press International.

WASHINGTON — Rep. John Dingell (D., Mich.) says his House subcommittee will be asked next week to refer evidence of several instances of possible perjury by Michael Deaver to a special prosecutor investigating lobbying activities of the former top White House aide.

Dingell said Thursday that an uncompleted staff report for his Energy and Commerce Subcommittee has found ``serious conflict`` with several aspects of Deaver`s closed-door testimony to the panel last May.

Dingell said the subcommittee also would be asked to vote next Tuesday to adopt the staff report, based on a lengthy investigation of Deaver`s multimillion-dollar lobbying business, including an inquiry by the General Accounting Office, when it is completed.

A key issue is whether Deaver, in representing business and foreign interests, lied to the subcommittee about his contacts with federal officials on matters he had participated in during his White House tenure.

Randy Turk, a lawyer for Deaver, said it would be ``inappropriate to comment until such time as we get officially notified of what`s going on and have an opportunity to read whatever report they`ve compiled.``

Sources familiar with the subcommittee inquiry said the panel has found conflicts between Deaver`s testimony and that of other witnesses on his contacts with four administration officials, Budget Director James Miller;

Robert McFarlane, former White House national security affairs adviser;

Richard Burt, U.S. ambassador to West Germany, and Mike Mansfield, U.S. ambassador to Japan.

The sources said the subcommittee is examining Deaver`s testimony about his meeting with Miller to press the arguments of his client, the Rockwell International Corp., in favor of production of B-1 bombers.

In addition, the sources said questions have been raised about Deaver`s candor as to whether he received Burt`s assistance in seeking a contract in West Germany to publicize Berlin`s 750th anniversary. Subcommittee

investigators recently flew to Europe to interview Burt.

Deaver served on a White House-State Department committee on ambassadorial appointments and helped select Burt for the ambassadorship to Bonn, as well as three other U.S. envoys serving in countries where he later sought lobbying business.

The subcommittee also is studying Deaver`s testimony about his contact with McFarlane about his lobbying for tax breaks that Puerto Rico hoped to retain, the sources said. Yet another area in question is his remarks about discussions with Mansfield on behalf of Puerto Rico, which hoped to provide tax benefits to Japanese companies investing in the U.S. commonwealth, they said.

Sources said Deaver has asked for a transcript of his testimony, but it will not be released until the subcommittee votes.

On May 29, a special federal court named Whitney North Seymour Jr., a former U.S. attorney in New York, as a special prosecutor to investigate evidence Deaver violated three provisions of federal ethics laws by lobbying for Canada and Puerto Rico.

Dingell said in a telephone interview that the panel will be asked to refer to the prosecutor new ``matters which possibly involve perjury in his

(Deaver`s) testimony under oath before the subcommittee, including matters with which Mr. Deaver`s testimony is in serious conflict.``

He said there are ``several instances of possible perjury`` by Deaver, a longtime friend of President and Mrs. Reagan, who was allowed to keep his White House pass for about a year after he left office on May 10, 1985.

Seymour`s inquiry, launched at the request of the Justice Department, is investigating allegations that Deaver`s contact with the White House on behalf of Canada, from which he accepted a $105,000 contract, violated federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Federal ethics laws generally restrict the contact former senior government officials can make with their former agencies on matters in which they were substantially and personally involved while in government service.

Seymour`s inquiry also is focusing on allegations Deaver may have violated conflict-of-interest laws by approaching McFarlane about retention of a section of the Internal Revenue Code worth $600 million to Puerto Rico.